


Sometimes It Is That Simple

by orphan_account



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Blood and Injury, Character Death, Don't worry it's the badguy, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Injury Recovery, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mpreg, Multi, No rewrites we die like men, Recovery, Skeleton Pregnancy (Undertale), Temporary Character Death, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:22:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21635809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: An alternate ending forIt's Not That Simplethat skips overIt Was Never That Simpleto go straight to a happy ending.Now with additional alternate yet still happy ending!
Relationships: Sans/Sans (Undertale)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 74





	1. Death is Simple

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Golden_Au](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Au/gifts), [TKWolf45](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKWolf45/gifts).
  * Inspired by [It's Not That Simple](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322347) by [Golden_Au](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Golden_Au/pseuds/Golden_Au), [TKWolf45](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TKWolf45/pseuds/TKWolf45). 



> I just binged It’s Not That Simple, don’t know how I missed it earlier but I was hooked! (If you haven’t yet, go read it! Right now!) But also that ending just BROKE me so here I am barging my way in with an unasked for, self indulgent, alternate ending. Hope Golden and TK don’t mind. 
> 
> Starting with an excerpt from It’s Not That Simple (chapter 63) for context.

Ink shuddered, growling, "This isn't our home. You _k-knew_ we never felt like this was our home-"

"It is your home now, and if you're going to start complaining about it, I'll have to start punishing you." Nightmare smiled. "Unless you no longer want Geno? It'd be an easy choice! Stay here, and keep Geno, or leave and **I** keep Geno."

Silence fell over the room as Nightmare’s ultimatum sank in. The mere suggestion that Reaper would abandon Geno after everything they’d been through in just the last 30 days alone was like a slap in the face. And just like a slap to the face it brought Reaper clarity. There, right in front of them was Geno… **and his SOUL**. The only reason the husbands hadn’t just killed Nightmare earlier was the fact he wouldn’t _stay_ dead, they wouldn’t be able to find Geno **and** his hidden SOUL before Nightmare came back and decided to punish them.

But there Geno was. All of him. Right there. The only thing standing between the husbands and their smallest was just one measly monster.

Like a flashbang a plan sprang fully formed into his mind, Reaper couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. It would hurt, but he could do it. He heard someone take in a breath, but he wasn’t going to give them a chance to talk. He simultaneously hid himself from mortal eyes (no knowing how well that would work on everyone present, but it was worth trying) and shortcut behind Nightmare. There were gasps and a cry of dismay that he ignored as he summoned his scythe and pulled back. His scythe was made of his magic, as weightless and immune to physics as Cross’s blade, but the motion still pulled on his already abused shoulder and fresh injuries, the bloody grip on it stung his hands. Ink gasped.

“Tsk, who would ha-” Nightmare’s declaration was cut off as he turned to dust. Reaper quickly scooped up Geno’s SOUL and stored it in his inventory as gently as he could. There was an unpleasant thump as the suddenly unsupported Geno fell onto the throne. Reaper winced even as he reminded himself it was a short fall and it was more important to get Geno out. Now.

“Geno!” Ink cried as he stumbled towards their smallest husband. Then he cried again, nearly doubling over in agony. There was a mirrored cry not far away.

Error had Cross wrapped up in strings, squeezing his still bleeding chest.

“Shit,” Reaper hissed as he watched his husband stumble.

“R-Reaper?” Ink asked, looking around in confusion.

Reaper dropped his cloak, “I’m here. Hopefully not for much longer, let’s go.”

“G-Geno’s SOUL…”

“I have it. Error!”

“Reaper! WhAt ThE fU-”

“Leaving. Now.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Error raised his arm then brought it down, Cross was slammed into the ceiling then the floor. That done, Error scrambled to go join the other husbands. “Let’s go home.”

“No, Life’s,” Reaper replied.

“WhAt? WhY?!”

“Ruru, please,” Ink begged. He wasn’t even sure what he was begging for.

“Life’s the best healer I know, and not even the other gods know where she is.”

“R-right.” Error gathered Geno up into his arms as Reaper and Ink clung to him, it was hard to support three sagging, dragging husbands who were either injured or who knew what was going on with Geno. A moment later they were gone from Nightmare’s castle, and good riddance!

Error had taken them straight to Life’s living room, unfortunately the lady of the house wasn’t in. The group shuffled as best they could over to the couch, Reaper sagging as his high running emotions drained out of him and Ink from his double dose of empathic injuries. The three of them managed to get Geno onto Life’s couch, then Ink and Reaper on either side of him. Geno slumped down and leaned over, his skull was about to hit Ink’s (Reaper’s) injured shoulder when they quickly moved him to lean against Reaper’s good shoulder instead.

“I’m gonna find Life,” Error said, hesitating to leave now that the four of them were together again and out and safe.

“Oh my, what has happened?” Life had just entered, a pot overflowing with greenery in her hands. She quickly set it aside to rush over to the couch and start inspecting them.

“Reaper first,” Ink insisted. “Half my injuries are actually his.” He held up a hand, Reaper held up the matching hand to show matching injuries.

“Wait, no, Geno first.”

“You are badly injured,” Life began.

“Something’s wrong with him and we don’t know what, he’s not… he’s not all here.”

“Like he’s behind a veil,” Ink added.

Life frowned, but turned her attention to the smallest. She gently touched his sternum and paused for a moment, the air hummed with magic. She gasped and held her hands up to her mouth in dismay, “Where is his SOUL?”

“Oh, right. I have it.” Reaper pulled Geno’s fragile SOUL from his inventory and offered it to Life.

“Really? Your inventory?!” Error asked with disgust.

“It was the safest place at the time.”

“Do not worry, one’s inventory in no way does any damage to SOULs.” The goddess carefully picked Geno up, cradling him in her arms. Stars, he already looked so small! He really did look like a tiny, limp doll in her arms. Once he was settled comfortably in the crook of her arm she accepted the SOUL and surrounded it with a soft green aura before gently pushing it into his sternum.

At first nothing happened, then Geno blinked groggily, shifted, and whimpered.

“He’s scared,” Ink warned just in time for a hitching sob and tears to start welling up and let themselves out.

“Sssssshhhhhh, Little One. Hush now, no need to worry, you are safe now.”

“T-T-T-Toriiiii?” Geno stuttered out.

“Close, dear, it is Life. You are safe in my home, no one will hurt you here.”

“W-w-wh-w-where-”

“You’re out,” Ink reassured.

“We’re out,” Error added.

“We’re here, we’re all here and we’re all safe, Honey.” Reaper carefully took one of Geno’s hands in his own, wincing at the pain.

“And you two are still injured. I am sorry, I know you are distressed, Geno, but I must attend to your husbands now.”

“I’ll take the glitch face,” Error offered.

“The armchair.” Once they got Error settled in the armchair, Geno in his lap and sobbing into his shirt, she turned her attention back to the two injured skeletons on her couch. “Now then, Sans, let me see your injuries.”

“Sure.”

Life kneeled before the couch, fingers light as they skimmed over Reaper’s wounds, a gentle light and the hum of magic flowing from them. She frowned at the at the injuries, old and new, that littered Reaper’s ecto and bones. “I will need to move the bones back into position before healing them.”

“Right. But before that, could you heal my shoulder? My wings won’t go away quite yet...”

“I understand.” She turned her attention to the old injury, the light of her fingers growing to a soft, healing green.

With a sigh of relief, mirrored by Ink, Reaper finally dematerialized his wings and ecto. He gave the shoulder an experimental roll, then smiled up at Life. “Thanks, Tori.”

She smiled sadly, “You are quite welcome, though you will not be thanking me for what I must next do.”

“Inky,” Error called, “maybe you should leave while she sets his bones.”

“I’ll be fine, I don’t,” _want to let any of you out of my sight ever again_ , he didn’t finish. “… want to make more work for Life. She’ll heal Reaps right after, what if distance doesn’t heal me?”

Life sighed, “It is no trouble for me to heal you two separately, but I understand your desire to stay nearby. Brace yourselves.”

It was a slow process of Life carefully nudging the bones as efficiently into place as possible, then quickly healing them before pausing to let the two injured husbands rest. Once the broken bones were tended, and it seemed Geno had cried himself to sleep, Reaper looked up to Life with blank, empty sockets. “Did you get a good look at Geno when you were diagnosing him?” He whispered softly enough that Geno and Error couldn’t hear him on the other side of the room.

Life sighed, but the magic flowing from her hands never wavered, “The poor dear, he may be stable but he is not in good shape.”

“Is h-he… I mean… Nightmare said he… touched Geno.”

Life looked absolutely horrified. Her magic petered out, then she was covering her mouth with her hands and tears were dripping from her eyes. “What happened to you, my friends?”

“Nightmare kidnapped Geno,” Reaper said, his voice still too quiet to carry farther than Life and Ink. “We went to go negotiate, Nightmare demanded a month of servitude in exchange for Geno back at the end of the it but he… he never promised Geno’s safety, that bastard.”

“He told us he let his second also...” Ink’s breath hitched, unable to continue. “He also said Geno is… is expecting.”

Life nodded sadly, “Yes, I could sense that from the beginning.”

Ink and Reaper both made strangled noises of distress. Error looked up to find all three looking at him and Geno with mixtures of grief and horror across their faces. He looked away.

Life turned back to them. “Well there is no changing the past, for now let us finish healing you two up.” She inspected Reaper one last time, then nodded in satisfaction before moving onto Ink.

“You can cut this shirt off if you need to, I hate it anyway,” Ink joked.

“We can burn it, if you like,” Life offered with forced cheeriness. “All of your clothes if you like, once you have a chance to go home and change.”

“Shit,” Reaper hissed. “Home isn’t safe.”

“Right, we need to warn the others.”

“You need to sit down and stay still until I draw out this nasty infection on your chest,” Life said sternly to Ink.

“I’ll go,” Reaper offered.

“Alone?” Ink asked.

“I can cloak myself.”

“You can cloak others with you, right?”

“What’s going on?” Error asked softly, trying not to wake their sleeping husband.

“Home isn’t safe, some of the things _he_ said were things Reapsy and I said to Gen in private.”

Error thought what Ink said over, then flushed bright yellow with a frown. “Ew.”

“I’m going to go home and gather us some real clothes and warn the others to go someplace else until we can clear the house.”

Error stood up and carried Geno over, “Not alone you’re not.”

“Can… can you bring them all here?” Ink asked hopefully.

“I am afraid I do not have much room,” Life said uncertainly.

“If they bring back blankets and pillows we can all camp out here for the night. Just one night, please Life?”

Life’s concern melted into a warm smile. “Of course, I would be honored to act as your safe refuge for the night.”  
  


* * *

  
It took several days. Reaper had to go before Asgore and explain his absence and the danger his family was in but was allowed to stay in the palace until arrangements could be settled, he also had to go back to work and finally silence the ticking of too many clocks. PJ and Goth had to be cuddled and spoiled and reassured over and over again that their parents missed them, didn’t want to be gone, wouldn’t be gone that long ever again. Dream had to start giving Ink real lessons on controlling his empathy. But eventually things began to settle.

No bugs or spy devices of any kind were found in the old house, either they were just that well hidden or Nightmare had other means of spying on them. Not that it really mattered, the house was just full of too many bad memories now. They moved to a new one. A bigger one to accommodate their ever growing family. It was within a more populated section of the godly realm, far too close to the palace and Asgore and those gossips for Reaper to be happy, but it was deemed far safer. Nightmare had yet to directly attack actual gods, if one didn’t count keeping Reaper captive.

No one had been brave enough to ask Geno too many questions yet, especially not in front of the children, who insisted on spending as much time with their parents as possible. It wasn’t until a little more than a week had passed and Geno was taken to see Life for a check up with his husbands while their brothers and boyfriend oversaw their things being moved to the new house that questions started being answered.

“I am glad to see you have put on a little weight, you were terribly underfed the last time I saw you.” Life smiled down at Geno, who blushed and looked away. “Now if you would sit down we can see how you and the little one are doing.”

The husbands piled onto the couch, Geno sitting safely between Reaper and Error on either side and Ink snuggled into Error from the other side. Geno hesitantly lifted his shirt to show off a pudgy, dark red belly.

Life put her hands on either side of his belly, fingers lighting up with a warm glow. She smiled as she spoke, “They are quite healthy despite the first month of their life being so traumatic.”

“How,” Reaper croaked, then coughed and started again. “How far along is he?”

“Just over five weeks.”

Reaper, Ink, and Error all closed their eyes in shared pain, while Geno frowned in thought.

“BEfOrE wE eVeN sHOweD uP fOr “NeGoTiAtiOnS” ThAT bAsTarD hAd aLReAdY-” Error started.

“B-but he h-h-h-hadn’t,” Geno cut in. His fading blush came back in full force with everyone looking at him. He nervously started fiddling with the hem of the shirt he was still holding up. “H-h-he hadn’t b-b-before K-Ki-Ki-K-Ki-” Geno gulped, then motioned to his scarred cheeks with one hand.

“That was four weeks ago,” Ink said with wonder.

“Five weeks?” Reaper asked, “You’re sure?”

“Very sure, my friend,” Life said with a radiant smile. She pulled back to allow the husbands to pull each other into a group hug, tears already sliding down more than one set of cheeks.

“It’s- they aren’t his. They’re our baby.”

“What about Cross?” Error asked with a frown.

“W-wh-what ab-bout him?” Geno asked with some confusion.

“ _He_ said Cross also… hurt you, Honey.”

Geno shook his head. “H-he n-never. C-C-Cross didn’t ever h-hurt me. I m-m-might just have Suh-Stockholm Sssssyndrome but h-he was… nice. T-t-to me.”

There was a moment of silence as the husbands absorbed this piece of information.

Error struggled out of the group hug. “I g-g-gotta go baaaaaaack!”

“Ru!”

“I luh-left Cross b-b-behiiIIIiiind once alreeeaaaady,” Error struggled to get out.

Reaper stood up, “It’ll be easier if you can take someone who can turn invisible with you.”

Ink stood up as well, “Let’s go get him.”

The three linked hands, then disappeared.

Life hummed. “It may take them a little while, shall we go make some tea while we wait for their return?”

Geno nodded, then followed Life into her kitchen with a smile. His husbands would be back soon, another new addition to their family in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So to write this I had to try to write characters I’m unfamiliar with. Not just personalities and interpretations, but also power suites. What does it look like when Nightmare dies? I dunno. Does Ink have regular shortcuts or only the paint portals? I dunno. Does Reaper’s invisibility work on other gods? I dunno. Do Dream, Nightmare, Ink, or Error count as gods? I dunno. So uh… apologies if I got anything or everything wrong.
> 
> This is only the beginning of the happy ending though! Horror made it clear he doesn’t really want to be a nightmare either, so they go back for him and Killer too and quietly drop them off in Farmtale for some rehabilitation (that turns into another cute poly, yay!) Endure is a bit more of a mess, but they talk to him and eventually bring him home to Grandma Mulan him so now Geno has all his brothers, husbands, and boyfriends home to help him get ready for little Raven’s arrival. Nightmare is left sulking alone in his big, fancy castle. Any new nightmares he tries to recruit are quickly sniped by the Dream Team with offers of homes and stability without having to kowtow to all of Nightmare’s random whims. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
> 
> Edit: As of 1/4/2020 this little alternate ending is not longer _entirely_ canon compliant with _It Was Never That Simple_. I had considered coming back and editing this but eh... it's a small detail that can be implied to be glossed over in this fic, and this one isn't meant to be read along with Never so I'm just going to leave it. Just wanted y'all to know I'm aware, I'm aware you're aware, and it's okay.


	2. War is Simple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Comments on Chapter 15 of[It Was Never That Simple](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21257321/chapters/50613275)**  
> Nanenna: I'm gonna write another alternate ending! >:C  
> Golden_AU: Are... are you threatening me with happiness? Because please do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This technically takes place during the time skip at the beginning of Chapter 57 of [It's Not That Simple](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322347/chapters/45961780), shortly before Nightmare _hurt_ Geno. This way I get to unmake some of the trauma that happened to the husbands! Next time Never gets even worse again I can do yet another alternate ending that rolls back even further so there's even LESS trauma.
> 
> Because we all know it's just going to keep getting worse. TTnTT   
> Please enjoy this new little bandaid for our souls.

War frowned as she looked over the battlefield, another new AU another war between monsters and humans. Not that she’d call something so one sided a war, but that’s what the mortals called it and so here she was. Whether she wanted to or not. Okay, so she could and had skipped a lot of these so-called wars, but today she had a specific reason to be here.

A dark figure stepped onto the battlefield, their blade glinting as it swung back and forth. War grinned broadly, target in sight. She silently moved across the battlefield, maneuvering until she was in position. She thanked her lucky stars she hadn’t worn her ceremonial armor today, she could get the drop on him.

The target moved quickly across the battlefield, methodically going back and forth between the soldiers. War tensed, then when his back was turned, pounced. “NGAHHH!!!”

“WAH!”

“Hah! I gotcha!”

“War! You Startled Me!” Respite stomped his foot petulantly.

“Heh, yeah I did. But it was for a good reason.”

“I Certainly Hope So.”

“I had to or you’d just run away.”

“Run Away From What?” Respite asked absently as he went back to quickly and methodically reaping souls.

War just followed along, keeping pace with him as he worked. “Well I thought you were avoiding me, so I was trying to confront you.”

“I’m Not Avoiding You.”

“Well it sure feels like it, you cancel all our plans out of the blue and then completely stop responding to me? What else am I supposed to think?”

“That I’m Very Busy, Because I Am.”

“Yeah, I figured when Mettaton said you’d canceled plans with him too.”

Respite sighed, “Yes, As Much As It Pains Me To Deprive Him Of My Great Presence, I’m Afraid It Was Necessary.”

“So what’s going on?”

Respite sighed again, his scythe slowing to a halt. “I… Am Not Sure Where To Start.”

“Start with Reaper, he’s missing, isn’t he?”

“Yes. Well… No. Well… Sort Of? I Mean, We’re Pretty Sure We Know Exactly Where He Is… Kind Of.”

“Okay, so maybe tell me where he went and why.”

Respite’s shoulders drooped. “Geno Was Kidnapped.”

War stiffened. “What.”

“By A Monster Who Calls Himself Nightmare. Taken From Our Very Home.”

“WHAT?!” War roared, spears in hand.

“Undyne…”

“Papyrus!” She whirled on Respite, her good eye sparking wildly.

“Don’t Go Running Off In The Middle Of My Story.”

War huffed and crossed her arms, staring off into the distance stormily. But she didn’t go running off.

“He Sent A Messenger Telling Reaper, Error, And Ink That He Wanted To Negotiate With Them. I Promised To Cover For Him And Help Look After The Children Until They Got Back.”

“How long did they say it was going to take?”

Respite shook his head, “They Didn’t Say, But...”

“But what?!”

“It’s Been Over A Week.”

“Damn, something obviously went wrong.”

“Obviously. But I Just Don’t Know What To Do, It’s Hard Enough Just Trying To Keep Up With The Souls That Need Reaping And Being A Great Uncle. The Children Are… Clingy Right Now.”

“They’re probably scared.”

Respite nodded as he sagged even further, “Very.”

They both lapsed into a tense silence. War shook herself out of it and turned fully back to Respite, “Do you at least feel better for having told someone?”

Respite perked up, “I Do, Actually.”

“Good. And don’t you worry, I’m sure they’ll be back in no time!”

Respite gave War a strained grin, “Yes, I’m Sure You’re Right.”

* * *

Nightmare had just given out orders for the day, a pleased grin on his face at the thought of how well his puppets danced for him. He was just considering what to do with his little toy when the whole castle shuddered. It felt like a weak earthquake had just rolled beneath them, but the distant sound of an explosion echoing down the halls told a different story.

The castle was shook by two more loud explosions before Nightmare found the fight. His throne room was in pieces, three of the four walls collapsing in places. Nightmare tucked back outside the door and peered in to better gauge what was going on. There wasn’t much of a fight at that point, a Grillby, Greater Dog, Dogamy, and a Dogaressa were all holding Nightmare’s willing nightmares face down on the ground. An Undyne was pacing around them, barking out orders like she was a dog herself. Off to the side an Alphys was wringing her hands while an Asgore talked with Nightmare’s three puppets. From the way Reaper was standing respectfully (far more respectfully than he ever had for Nightmare) before this Asgore it was pretty obvious this was Reaper’s Asgore. A god. The king of the gods. The rest were gods too, then. How unpleasant.

It seemed he’d have to give this castle and crew up, possibly forever. Pity. Nightmare was about to make a retreat when Ink pointed towards the door. He cursed internally as he quickly turned away. Only to find Reaper waiting for him, scythe held up in a defensive position. Before he could even turn the other way blue strings wrapped around him.

“Going somewhere?”

Nightmare grinned, “You wouldn’t want to put poor little Geno’s SOUL at risk.”

War burst through the open door, a ring of spears spinning into place around Nightmare. “Don’t bother trying to teleport, punk! We got this whole castle on lock down.”

Likely what Knowledge was brought along for.

Asgore ducked through the doorway, still too tall even if it was one of the few wide enough for his massive frame. He pointed his trident at Nightmare, “Tell us where you are keeping Death’s husband.”

“Whatever do you mean? Death’s husbands are right here, one of them seems to be keeping me prisoner.”

Asgore frowned, “You are choosing to be difficult.”

“Perhaps.” Nightmare grabbed the strings wrapped around him and tugged hard, pulling Error off balance and into War. In the same motion he dodged the gleaming scythe that had been aiming at his SOUL. “Careful, Reaps, what if that had been where I was keeping dear little Geno’s SOUL?”

Reaper growled, but dropped the scythe in favor of brandishing some wicked looking talons on the end of his fingers. Nightmare laughed as he ducked and dodged, Error’s strings getting caught up on Reaper or War’s spears. Ink splatters and bone attacks of various colors were mixed into the mess as well, most knocked aside by Nightmare’s tentacles. The hallway was far too crowded for such a disorganized group. Nightmare stood a chance of escaping still, he just had to get out of the castle.

With a cheery ping, Nightmare’s SOUL turned green.

“Everybody BACK OFF!” At War’s yell, the other skeletons reluctantly backed off. Nightmare struggled, but with his SOUL so firmly anchored he couldn’t move. “Now, if you could just hold still for me,” War grinned maliciously at Nightmare as she surrounded him with more spears, strangely not pointed at his neck or SOUL like he expected. Then Nightmare realized where exactly they were pointed, he had barely enough time to open his mouth to protest when the spears impaled his tentacles. He yowled in pain, unable to do more than tremble in place.

While he was distracted by the pain, Knowledge walked up and handed War something. War grinned all the broader as she snatched up Nightmare’s hands and cuffed him. The magic suppressors embedded in them hummed to life, Nightmare gasped and sank to his knees, SOUL still green.

“I will ask you one more time, where is Sans Genocide Gaster Death?”

Nightmare silently glared up at Asgore.

After waiting too long for a reply, Asgore sighed deeply. “Very well, Knowledge.”

“I-if Geno’s SOUL is on him or in his inventory, I’ll f-find it!” Knowledge said confidently, already pulling a device from her own inventory.

“That’s my wife!” War crowed proudly.

“We’ll have to search the castle for Geno,” Reaper groused.

“I can lead the search,” Error volunteered. “I kNoOOOoOOow the castle b-b-best.”

“I know where Geno is.”

Everyone turned to look at the door, where Grillby and the guard dogs were standing around the prisoners, each with his hands behind his back. Cross stood defiantly, staring right at the husbands. “I can take you right to him.”

Nightmare glared hatefully at Cross.

“Why should we trust you?” War asked skeptically.

“I want out,” Cross said simply.

“We can trust him,” Ink cut in. “And if not, we can start the search from wherever he leads us. We have to start somewhere, right?”

“He has a point,” Asgore said. “Alright then, Undyne you take Death and his husbands to go retrieve Geno. Dogamy and Dogaressa you two will escort these other three prisoners to the location prepared for them. The rest of us will stay here to ensure this miserable creature does not attempt another escape.”

* * *

Respite was giving Spright and Dream the day off. He couldn’t silence all the noise in his head, the innumerable ticking clocks and the ceaseless, voiceless cries of SOULs passed, but he could give respite to others. So he would. And he did love his little nephews, he truly enjoyed spending time with the little darlings. They were so clever, so sweet, so vibrant and full of life. They had just finished lunch and were sitting down to draw together until they inevitably became sleepy, babybones needed so much sleep, when a knock came at the door.

“I Wonder Who That Could Be? You Two Stay Right Here, I’ll Go See Who It Is.” Respite smiled reassuringly at his nephews, then got up and went to the door. “Undyne!” Respite grinned widely, War was standing on his doorstep grinning just as broadly. Behind her was a crowd of other monsters, the most notable of which was King Asgore himself. “What’s Going On? Is There Some Emergency? Has… Has Something Happened?”

“Bro!” Reaper stepped out from behind War and pulled Respite into a hug.

“Brother! You’re Back! I Missed You So Much!” Respite returned the hug, picking Reaper up to hold him close.

“Respite,” a teary voice said.

“Geno!” Overjoyed, Respite pulled Geno up into the hug as well. War had stepped out of the way to reveal Error and Ink, the latter of whom patted Respite’s arm companionably. Respite would have none of that, he had arms long enough to hug the lot of them! The only reason Error wasn’t pulled into the hug too was because Respite didn’t want to accidentally trigger his haphephobia.

“Come Inside! Come Inside, The Children Have Missed You!” Respite took his armful of brother and brothers-in-law, Error walking after him with a crooked grin on his face, inside. “Paperjam! Goth! Come Quick! Your Parents Are Home!”

Tiny feet thundered as the two children ran into the room. Respite let the husbands down, the four of them already kneeling to welcome their children with open arms. This was a group hug Error did join in on, the four parents and two children all talking at once with tears streaming down their faces. And if Respite had a tear or two leak from his own eye? He wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

Respite turned his attention back to War, who stood hovering just inside the doorway. “Thank You. I Don’t Know How You Did It, But Thank You.”

“You’re welcome,” War replied with a warm smile. Then her grin turned sharp, “Just make sure I never have to do it again. Don’t let that blockhead do anything else stupid.”

Respite gave a watery laugh and shook his head, “I Certainly Won’t.” And even if he hadn’t said it, this was a promise he intended to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also yes, I'm using gods as a get away from Nightmare free card; and yes, it's gonna be a theme for these alternate endings because they're motherfucking gods (literally, in Reaper's case) goddamnit! They should be at least on par with some guardian of emotions. The high gods, anyway. I wanna see them working together to kick Nightmare's ass!


End file.
